Perception of Others and Social Bias, Annotated Bibliography Example

Calogero, R., Herboso, S., & Thompson, J. (2009). Complimentary weightism: The potential costs of appearance-related commentary for women’s self-  objectification.  Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33(1), 120-132.

Evidence exists that links verbal criticisms about a woman’s appearance to body satisfaction, eating disorders, and poor psychological function among adolescent girls and adult women, but little is known about how women react to receiving compliments about how they look. The fact that women in Western cultures have ongoing exposure to messages and commentary about appearance is well known and documented. The research included 220 ethnically diverse women. When they received comments about their appearance, they were more likely to think about and monitor the way they looked. Even when they received compliments about their appearance, their body dissatisfaction actually decreased. Women at the extremes –those who felt very good or very bad about their appearance –tended to be more affected by commentary surrounding their looks. The researchers theorize that it might be helpful for women to think about their appearance in third person rather than first person. The more important looks are to a woman, the more difficult it is for her to dismiss things said to her about her looks or to put such comments in perspective. Any comment about weight, positive or negative, may have detrimental consequences to women.

Liechty, T., Freeman, P., & Zabriskie, R. (2006). Body image and beliefs about appearance: Constraints on the leisure of college-age and middle-age women. Liesure Sciences, 28(4), 311-330.

Poor body image was high among the participants in this study. Here, previous research was supported that body image is a widespread issue and problem among the women of America. A high percentage of the participants (88%) held a poor self-body assessment. The most common complaint was that they had a larger body than they wished to have. Most of the participants said that, because of their body image, they did not participate in the leisure activities that they wished. This study used college age women (116) and their mothers (76) as participants. It used two instruments from which participants rated themselves. The first was a body image scale. The second was a leisure activity scale. Multiple regressions and t-tests were used to analyze data. Mothers’ self image related directly to daughters’ self image.

Ossana, Shelly, Helms, J., & Leonard, Mary. (1992). Do “womanist” attitudes influence college women’s self-esteem and perceptions of environmental bias. Journal of Counseling & Development, 70(3), 402-408.

This study comes an extension of previous work conducted by one of its authors (Helms, 1990) that dealt with a four-stage model of womanist characteristics that evolves as women move from external standards of gender identity to internal standards of the same. It proceeds with the truth that career and educational options exist for women of today more so than ever before; however,  the academic “put downs” in educational settings and the loss of self-esteem in career exploration often combine and contribute to debilitating damage to some women at personal as well as professional levels. Why some women move unscathed  through environments that are potentially biased needs further investigation.  This study utilized data from 659 women who served as participants. The results suggested that stereotypes about gender, coupled with dawning perspectives about gender, should be questioned by women. Further, they suggest that active rejections of male-endorsed values about women and any positive search for a working definition of womanhood should also be questioned. Such questioning of what the researchers call Encounter and Immersion- Emersion, helps with the self-esteem issues of women. The researchers call for further study involving longitudinal investigations of environmental gender bias and other inequalities that have potential negative impact on women’s success in college.

Stake, J., & Malkin, C. (2003). Students’ quality of experience and perceptions of intolerance and bias in the women’s and gender studies classroom. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 27(2). 

The study reviewed the experiences of 326 students who had enrolled in women’s and gender studies (WGS) classes in college. Eighty-eight percent of these students rated that they had positive experiences in such classes. To only a small degree, perceptions of teacher and classmate intolerance were present in the classes. Most students reported gains in their personal confidence as students and as people and general gains in their feelings of egalitarianism on their campuses. Topics in such classes are often emotionally charged and controversial. Because of this, some students reported experiencing discomfort with class discussions in women’s and gender studies classes. At its heart, this study sought to identify factors that relate to student satisfaction with WGS classes. Measures of perceived intolerance and bias were taken.